Improvement in looms



3 Sheets--Sh0et1.

s. T. THOMAS.

Looms.

Patented Dec. 9,1873.

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s. 'T. worms.

Looms. No. 145,316. Patented Dec.9,l873

UNI ED STATES PATENT CFFIGE,

SAMUEL T. THOMAS, OF GILFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IMPROVEMENT m Looms.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 145,316, dated December9, 1873; application filed August 20, 1573.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL T. THOMAS, of Gilford, in the county ofBelknap and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain Improvementsin Looms; and I do hereby declare that the following, taken inconnection with the'drawings which accompany and form part of thisspecification, is a description of my invention sufiicient to enablethose skilled in the art to practice it.

The invention relates to details of construction of fancy looms.

One part of the invention relates to the arrangement of the drop-boxmechanism. In such arrangement the boxes are operated by a series ofstar or cam wheels, in each of which is a star-groove, having extendinginto it a pin from a pendent lever, the foot of said lever beingconnected by a link with a slide, by movement of which in one directionthe dropboxes are raised, and by movement of which in the oppositedirection the boxes are depressed. The star-wheels are loose upon ashaft, and each is operated by a pawl acting against the teeth of aratchet on one side of the star-wheel.

The movement of each pawl is determined by the pattern-chain, the pawlbeing pressed forward by a cam on a cam-shaft, and returned by a weight,a weighted lever, or a spring. When the pawl moves forward, it turns thestar-wheel, the star-groove in which positively carries the pendentlever either outward (thereby drawing outward the wed ge-slide connectedto said lever and raising the boxes the height ofone box) or inward,(thereby enabling the boxes to fall one box,) the series of levers,star- 'wheels, and wedge-slides eflecting the required changes in theboxes, as demanded by the exigencies of the pattern, and the leversbeing positively locked, so that the boxes can be neither raised norlowered by them, except as they are directly actuated by the pawlscontrolled by the pattern-chain.

Furthermore, the boxes are so connected with the levers by which theyare directly operated, and the slide which operates such levers, thatthe boxes are not only positively raised, but are positively drawn down,instead of dropping by gravity, there being thus no opportunity for anybox to be out of position under any circumstances, its movement beingwholly controlled from the pattern mechanism. In connection with thebox-motion, a peculiar stop-motion is used for the boxes, to arresttheir movement instantly in case the weft-stop motion is operated. I

The invention also embraces an arrangement of mechanism for stopping theloom when a shuttle is not thrown, or when shuttles are in oppositeboxes, and an improvement in the cam-motion for cam-levers. Although allthese improvements are to be, or may be, em bodied in one loom, theimprovements are shown in detailed figures for the better de scriptionand understanding thereof.

The drop-box mechanism, or that part of it pertaining to this invention,is shown in elevation in Figure 1.

Upon a stationary pin, a, are placed the cam-wheels b, each of which ismade w th a star cam-groove, 0, into which fits a pm, d, extending froma pendent arm, 0, hanging from a stationary pin, f, and swinging uponsaid pin. The foot of each arm 6 is connected by a wire, 9, with someone of a series of slides, h, that are connected to, and by theirsliding movement actuate, a series of levers, i k l, the upper one, i,of which is jointed to the vertical link m, upon which the box-rod n issupported the drop-box compartments 0 being mounted on the top of thisrod. Each lever 570 l is made with flanges p, and each slide it isplaced between two adjacent levers, and has slots q, as seen at A, thatembrace the flanges p of two adjacent levers, so that the several leversare connected by the respective slides. Beneath the lower slide is astationary rail, 1', having a flange, s, embraced by the bottom slots ofthe lower slide, so that such slide only moves horizontally, and themovements of the others are with relation to it. The flanges of eachlever are relatively inclined, and as either slide moves forward orback, it moves the lever over it in a vertical direction. The camwheelsb turn loosely upon the pin a, and are independent each from the other;and fixed to or forming part of each .is a ratchet, t, with whichengages one of a series of pawls, u, said pawls being suspended by wires0 from a hook, w, and their tail ends being in front of a plate, 3 on anarm, 2, extending from the vertical arm of a weighted lever, ahthe platebeing thrown forward by a cam, b on the shaft 0 and falling back bygravity. The tail end of each pawl has a shoulder, (1 and over thelevers stand rods 0 having their upper ends hooked and hung in bearingsf Under the points of the hooks is the patterncard mechanism k hung on aprism or cylinder, i and furnished with the pattern-cards, respectivelypunched in accordance with the pattern to be woven. The card mechanismis attached to a vertical slide-rod, 70 having an arm, 1 a pin, m at theend of which stands over a cam, M on the shaft 0 the pattern mechanismbeing raised at each rotation of the shaft 0 The pawls a are held backto the plate y by the stress of a weighted lever, 0 except such as areheld forward by the ends of the rods 0 extending back of the shoulders dAs the shaft 0 turns, the cam n lifts the rod 70 and pattern-cards, andwhen the card reaches the points g of the hooks, the points of suchhooks as stand over holes in the card enter the card, and the pawls arenot disturbed, while such points as do not have holes to enter, beingstruck by the card, are raised, and by their rise free the shoulders 61from the lower ends of the rods, permitting the pawls to slide back tothe plate y by reason of the pressure of their levers. The continuedrotative movement of the shaft next brings the cam 1) against the arm 2,when all the pawls thus let back are driven forward by the plate y, and,by their forward movement, turn the ratchets and the cam-wheels fixedthereto, each cam-wheel being turned sufficiently to carry its pin 01from one angle of the cam-notch to the next angle thereof, by whichmovement of the pin the lever 6 is positively swung inward or outward,throwing the slide h connected to it in or out, said slide positivelymoving the lever above it in a vertical direction, thereby raising orlowering the boxes. As the levers are positively connected, no rise orfall of the boxes can take place, except by the direct action of theslides, the extent of up or down movement of the boxes being inaccordance with thenumber of slides moved and their direction ofmovement, and by this arrangement the boxes can never be misplaced, butmust always be in position for movement of the proper shuttle inaccordance with the exigencies of the pattern.

To prevent injury to the mechanism in case of obstruction to the descentof the boxes, the rod n is connected to the link m by means of a pin,1*, that passes under a latch, 8 on one arm of a lever, t the other armof which is acted upon by a spring, a The face of the latch in contactwith the pin is inclined, and under strain the latch is pressed back bythe pressure of the pin, and against the stress of the spring, thuspermitting the link to descend unaccompanied by the box-rod.

The weft-stop motion, connected with the boxmotion, is as follows, themechanism constituting this motion being also seen in Fig. 1: a denotesthe rod, acted upon by the weft-stop motion. From one end of this redextends an arm, b connected by a rod, 0 with an arm, d extending from avertical rod, 0 which rod turns in stationary bearings f and hasextending from it, near its top, an arm, 9 (to the end of which arm arehung the wires o, from which the pawls u are suspended,) and from itstop a bent arm, h, that extends behind the drag pawl F, that actuatesthe pin-wheel of the pattern-card cylinder. At the foot of the shaft orrod 0 extends another arm, i that norm ally rests on the cylindrical endof a camwheel, m, on the cam-shaft 0 When the weftstop motion throws outthe arm n of the rod (R, the arm I) is thrown in, and the rod 0" turnsthe rod or shaft 6 carrying the arm 1 into the plane of a peripheralcam, 0 on the cam-wheel m and this cam, as it rotates, raises the arm Zand with it the rod 6 arm wires 12, and pawls u,- and as the cam 12 nextdrives forward the pawls, they have no efl'ect upon the ratchets t andthe cam-wheels I), being held above or out of contact with theratchet-teeth, and consequently no box is moved. To also stop thepattern mechanism from moving, the arm h is used, said arm, as the shaft6 is turned by the rod 0 throwing out the pawl '6 so that, although therod k is raised, the pattern-cylinder remains stationary. Thus, althoughthe shaft a may continue to rotate, the boxes and the box-patternmechanism are stopped. A side cam, p ,.restores the arm I to its normalposition.

A detail view of the cams 0 p is shown at B.

For stopping the loom when a shuttle to be thrown remains in either box,or when shuttles are in opposite boxes, the mechanism shown in Figs. 2and 3 is used, Fig. 2 showing the mechanism in elevation, and Fig. 3showing a plan of it. a denotes the lay; I), the breast-beam. Inbrackets 0, extending from the lay, the protector-rod cl is supported,and upon this rod is fixed an arm, 0 having at its end a pin, f thatextends under a spring, 9 This spring has, at its outer end, a hook, h,and at its inner end it is fastened to the knock; in g-off lever i Whenthe shuttle is in thebox, the arm 6 is raised by the action of theshuttle on the arm I on the protector-rod, as seen by the full lines inFig. 2, and in this position it holds the hook it in such position that,as the lay beats back, an arm, is, extending from the lay, strikes thehook h, and, by strain upon the hook, draws over the knocking-off lever,throwin g the shipper-handle from its notch and kn ockin g off thelever, while, if no shuttle be in the box, the spring 9 throws the arms6 Z into the position shown by the dotted lines, and the hook h is belowthe path of movement of the arm is, extending from the lay. The spring gmay be held in place by a slotted plate, m extending from thebreast-beam.

The mechanism which relates to the pickermotion is shown in Figs. 4 and5. a denotes the cam-shaft that operates the picker-cams. b is thecam-plate fixed on the said shaft. ciS

the shuttle or picker cam. d is the shuttle or picker shaft 0 theshuttle or picker roll, turning on a pin extending from one arm of theshuttle or picker shaft, the other arm,f being connected to thepicker-stick g by the picker-strap 71. in the ordinary manner, all theseparts, in fact, operating substantially as in other looms; but to arrestthe shuttle before it reaches the end of the box, a peripheral plate, 6extends from the cam-plate'b as seen at Figs. 4 and 5. When the shuttleis thrown,

' the invention relates to the cam mechanism for operating theharness-levers, and is shown in Fig. 6.

It is customary in looms of this class to move the camshaft and camscontinuously, and much of the cam-groove is not effective for moving thelevers, and consequently the cam-groove must be much longer thannecessary; but with my arrangement the cams are made shorter, and, whenmoving, are, for the most of the time, eiiective; but when the leversare to hold the harness stationary, the cam is allowed to remain atrest. This I accomplish by means of a crank-pin on the'crank-shaft,which actuates at intervals a pin-wheel on the cam-shaft, giving thecams a partial and intermittent rotary motion at every revolution of thecrankshaft.

In the drawing, a denotes the crank-shaft;

b the cam-shaft, upon which are fixed any suitable number of cams, 0into the camgrooves m which enter the pins (1 extending from the arms 6of the several harness-levers f On one end of the cam-shaft is fixed awheel, 9 having peripheral notches h, and extending from its side, pins6 a crank-pin, W, on the end of the crank-shaft a intermittentlyengaging with these pins, so as to impart movement to the wheel g",shaft 1), and cams c leaving the cams stationary after the crank-pinpasses out of action with the pins 6 or during one-half of the rotationof the crank-shaft immediately after the harness-levers have been moved,and the change of shed is thereby effected. The cams are held stationaryby a catch-pawl, l, which looks into the peripheral notches of the wheel9.

I claim- 1. The combination, with the drop-boxes and the patternmechanism, of the cam-slotted wheel I), levers 1', links g, slides h,and intervening mechanism, operating to positively move the boxes toposition in each direction, and to posi' tively hold them in position,substantially as described.

2. In combination with the cam-wheels b and pawls a, and with thepattern mechanism, the vertical rod a link 0 and the mechanism connectedtherewith, and with the weft-stop motion, to effect the stoppage of thecams and pattern cards and cylinder from the Weft-stop motion,substantially as described.

3. In combination with the lay a and breastbeam 1), and with the lever loperated by the shuttle, the arms e and h and spring 9 having a latch,h, and secured to the knockingofl' lever 2', operating to stop the loom,substantially as described.

4. In combination with the harness-levers, the intermittently-operatedcams 0 wheel g, and pins i and the crank-pin k (on the crankshaft a andcatchpawl b the whole being arranged and operating substantially as andfor the purposes described.

S. T. THOMAS.

